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Nothing seems intuitive, half the time my 'design' just reports nothing, no error, no design, just N/A.

Sounds like the wrong input commands are being put in. One of the "TRACK" commands will give you more output on design calculations.

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Is it me? Is Staad worth the learning curve?

I personally am a fan of STAAD. I have to say though I prefer the old STAAD Pro to this "connect" edition I am using now.

Thanks for the response.
If you don't mind me asking, why do you like it?

I want to like it. It seems like a fairly robust program that can handle all sorts of loading conditions and complicated analysis. Seems like there are a lot of options available. I like the text input file idea.
For some reason though it just isn't all that intuitive for me.

I actually like what they are doing with the physical modeler for the most part as it seems a bit more intuitive, but I usually need to break the link at some point. Also I could see if you're used to using the V8i edition that you wouldn't like the connect edition.

EIT
www.HowToEngineer.com

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If you don't mind me asking, why do you like it?

Once you get beyond the familiarity I have with it (or did have with it before this "connect" business started)……….I just like how you can manipulate things. You can copy structures and paste very quickly. The EDIT file gives you another angle to quickly change things (and add comments). But probably my most fav thing about it is it's time-history capability. Not sure I've run into a better one anywhere.

I find Staad requires thinking in the opposite direction than a lot of other software but in theory should be quite workable. In practice, I am finding it hard to get past the steep part of the learning curve. I find the help menu particularly unhelpful and end up searching the internet in a lot of cases.

I also like the idea of defining properties then assigning them but it becomes cumbersome for larger models as all the properties are jumbled in a list. Eg I haven't worked out how to rename support types (not sure if it's possible) so they just stay as Support 1, Support 2 etc and have to be opened to remember what they represent (or keep a list outside the program). I tried using comments to keep my steel design parameters organised only for the comment to be an unrecognised command upon running the analysis. Lots of foibles...

@WARose - thanks for the followup

@SteveH - That's basically in-line with my thoughts/situation.

EIT
www.HowToEngineer.com